India has strengthened its ship-recycling ecosystem through financial support, compliance upgrades, and a market incentive for shipbreaking at certified yards. The policy logic is to make Alang, Gujarat, safer and more competitive while linking ship recycling with domestic shipbuilding.

What happened now

The Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has said that the Ferrous Scrap Development Fund (FSDF) has released financial assistance of ₹ 53.5 crore to 109 Indian ship recycling yards for modernization support. The ministry has also said that FSDF support includes ₹ 2.49 crore per annum for development and operation of a multispecialty hospital at Alang, Gujarat, and ₹ 12 lakh per annum for maintenance and operation of another primary hospital at Alang, Gujarat.

According to the ministry, these measures have helped ship-recycling yards at Alang become Hong Kong Convention (HKC) compliant, and 115 operational ship recycling yards at Alang are currently HKC compliant.

Background and earlier position

Ship recycling has long been concentrated at Alang, which is one of the world’s major ship-breaking centres. The policy challenge has been to move the sector from low-cost dismantling toward regulated recycling with better environmental safeguards, worker safety, and industrial standards.

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